The Civil War
Union versus Confederacy
The Civil War typically refers to the American Civil War (1861–1865), fought between the Union and the Confederacy over slavery and secession.
The definite article signals the war central to a nation's history—Americans say the Civil War and mean theirs, as do the English (1642–1651) or Spanish (1936–1939).
Context determines which conflict: My great-grandfather fought in the Civil War.
- UnionNamed political entity
- Union ArmyNorthern military in 1860s
- ConfederacySecessionist Southern government
- Confederate flagSecession-era Southern banner
- states' rightsProvincial governmental autonomy
slavery · Lincoln · Honest Abe · Fort Sumter · Gettysburg · battlefield · secession · abolition · plantation · musket · cannon · regiment · Antietam · bayonet · emancipation · rebel · Yankee · surrender
- History FilmsLincoln, Gettysburg, Glory, Selma, Saving Private Ryan
- PBSSesame Street, Mister Rogers, Arthur, Nova, Daniel Tiger
- American BooksTo Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, The Scarlet Letter, Catch-22, Walden
- War DocumentariesThe War, combat footage, archival footage, newsreels, battles
- documentariesdocumentary, documentary film, nature documentary, true crime docs, crime documentary
The Civil Warforeign invasion
Military entry by outsiders
external conflict · World War I · World War II · war of conquest · colonial war
The Civil Warpeace
Freedom from disturbance
national unity · domestic tranquility · peacetime · national reconciliation · union
civil, civility, civilian, civilize, civilized, civilization, civics, civic, civilly